A SIX-PART LIMITED PODCAST SERIES ALL ABOUT THE 2001 CULT CLASSIC JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS. HOST MARIA LEWIS CHARTS THE HISTORY OF THE CHARACTERS, THE DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, RELEASE AND SOUNDTRACK OF THE MOVIE AND FINALLY, ITS LEGACY.
“EACH EPISODE IS HEAVILY RESEARCHED AND SCRIPTED, AND WRAPPED IN A SOUND DESIGN THAT WOULD MAKE RADIOLAB PROUD.”
Maria Lewis is a best-selling author, screenwriter, film curator and pop culture etymologist currently based in Australia. Over the past 17 years of her career, she has built an international reputation as a storyteller across a diverse range of mediums.
Listen to her Australian Writers Guild award-winning podcast THE PHANTOM NEVER DIES.
More from Maria Lewis…
It Came From The Deep is a narrative podcast series based on the novel by best-selling author Maria Lewis. Chapters arrive each week, read by Sophie Parr, with bonus episodes breaking down the themes, inspiration and process with Blake Howard and Maria Lewis.
Episode 6: Legacy — “Any Amount Of Spotlight That Gets Shined On This Movie Is Not Bright Enough”: Josie And The Pussycats Becomes A Cult Classic
After flopping at the box-office, Josie And The Pussycats develops the most unlikely pop culture legacy writes Maria Lewis.
Bonus: Bossy Love — I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss: Amandah Wilkinson Talks The Path From Operator Please Teen Stardom To Cult Cool With Bossy Love
Her obsession with the 2001 film Josie And The Pussycats led to creating a teenage rock band, but Amandah Wilkinson has found her own unconventional road to success writes Maria Lewis.
Episode 5: Release — “It’s Dead On Arrival”: Josie And The Pussycats Bombs At The Box-Office
With a grim release date and the studio’s lack of confidence in the film, Josie And The Pussycats flops, further cementing its cult status writes Maria Lewis.
Bonus: Meet The OG Singing Voice Of Josie: Dee Dee Dionne Gipson
The voice of Letters To Cleo’s Kay Hanley became synonymous with Josie And The Pussycats when the film debuted, but in a sliding doors moment there was nearly another Josie writes Maria Lewis.
Episode 4: soundtrack — Josie And The Pussycats Soundtrack: “The Best Debut Album By A Band That Doesn’t Actually Exist”
With a pick ‘n mix of musical talent, everyone from Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds to Letters To Cleo began working on the film’s strongest asset, the songs, writes Maria Lewis
Bonus: No One Rocks The Mic Like DuJour, Ride On Your Motorbike With DuJour
With a sound crafted by Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds and a fandom that has endured nearly 20 years, DuJour was the perfect satire of nineties boy band phenomenon writes Maria Lewis
Episode 3: production — “It Wasn’t Easy”: Looking Back On Josie And The Pussycats Production With The Directors And Stars
Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson bunker down in band camp in Los Angeles as they learn how to be rock stars, while the physical production heads to Canada writes Maria Lewis
Bonus: The Fashion Of Josie And The Pussycats
From tonal dressing to an intense shimmer lip, the underrated impact of Josie And The Pussycats visual storytelling is still felt writes Maria Lewis.
Episode 2: Development — From A Space Opera To Beyoncé: The Josie And The Pussycats Movie That Could’ve Been
It doesn’t start smoothly with lawsuits and a potential space opera, but as the Josie And The Pussycats movie begins development it becomes a pop culture time capsule with auditions from Aaliyah, Lisa ‘Left-Eye’ Lopes and Beyoncé writes Maria Lewis.
Bonus: How Archie Broke The Comics Code
Archie Comics was once the bastion of conservative, wholesome America. Yet to survive as a brand and find a whole new generation of fans, they did something unexpected: they broke the Comics Code writes Maria Lewis.
Episode 1: HISTORY — The Unlikely History Of Josie And The Pussycats
From an unexpected romance during the Second World War to the Civil Rights movement of sixties in America, Josie and the Pussycat’s road to creation is an unlikely one writes Maria Lewis.